


Being Impulsive

by Baknami



Series: God of War Family Fics [1]
Category: God of War
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Norse Mythology - Freeform, spoilers i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 06:06:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baknami/pseuds/Baknami
Summary: Atreus' god-powers are beginning to form, and he tries them out on his own, without his father to assist him.  If only the young god wasn't so impulsive all the time.





	Being Impulsive

**Author's Note:**

> (Edited to include Svaðilfari's origins. Mimir never mentions him by name, but Hrimthur's story is mentioned in a lake boat conversation, and he is implied to be the stallion's master.)
> 
> Now translated into Russian by fox_in_the_scales! Check it out if you want to read it in your native language! :D
> 
> https://ficbook.net/readfic/6998373

When Atreus had asked his father Kratos never to leave him when he was a child, the Grecian god did his best to honor that promise. Kratos knew what it was like to be alone, and he didn't want to subject his son to the same feeling. It was one of the few things he could do for Atreus at this point.

Which made it a little ironic, seeing as how the moment the boy grew into a man, he had rushed off on his own at random intervals. Most of the time, the two were together, but there were times that Atreus needed some time alone. Sometimes he would wander off for days, or even weeks at a time. It worried his father, at the beginning, but Atreus's godly powers were beginning to manifest, and Kratos had taught his son how to survive. He trusted his son to do so. And besides, he knew what it was like to be young. His boy needed his privacy, he assumed.

Still, Kratos made sure to stay at their home for as long as possible. Atreus had asked his father never to leave him behind, and that was a promise the old god intended to keep. Kratos found himself restless while he waited for his son to return, however, so he usually kept his hands busy to keep himself from thinking about his missing son. Mimir had nothing he could do to keep his mind off the boy, but he quickly learned not to voice his own worries, because Kratos tended to show worry by getting angry.

...Kratos tended to express any emotion with anger.

This time, the aging father was occupying his time by cutting logs for firewood. He wanted Atreus to come home to a warm cabin. The boy might have been gone for an entire month, but he would be back. He _would_ be back, he...

Kratos's tense muscles finally relaxed when he heard the slightly familiar sound of a trotting horse, and he masked a sigh of relief beneath a grunt of exertion as he cleaved a log in two. Mimir was the first to call out to the young god as he approached, “Ah! Welcome back, brother!”

Kratos placed a new log on the stump, just in time for the horse to trot next to the man and nuzzle his temple. “Hey father. Got a sugar cube?” the horse joked. Kratos placed a hand on the horse's muzzle and shoved it to the side. There was a flicker of a smile on the corner of his lips, hidden beneath his bushy beard. At that point, only Atreus and Mimir could notice it, and they had learned quickly never to bring it up, lest he get self-conscious.

Atreus chuckled instead, hopping into the air with a giddy nicker and patting himself on the back for getting even a tiny smile from his father. The young god had always wanted to be able to turn into different animals, and it had taken him quite a few more years before he managed to. Now, it was hard to keep him in his mortal, human form for more than a few days at a time.

“You're looking mighty proud of yourself,” Mimir said matter-of-factly as Atreus trotted in a circle and came back with a snort, “You going to change back soon?” He glanced at Kratos as the god sliced another log cleanly in two. _Someone_ was always doing the chores at home while _someone else_ was trapezing about Midgard.

The horse stopped, and he pawed the ground with his hoof. “I... I really think I shouldn't right now,” he said, dropping his head and shaking out his mane, “I uhm... I'm not sure if it'll hurt him.”

Kratos looked up from his work, his frown one of mild confusion. “Hurt who?” He glanced behind his horse son before turning back to Atreus, “Did you bring someone with you?”

Atreus turned his head to the side, as if he were debating whether or not to answer that. “Well uh, I was wandering around with the animals, you know, trying out some different forms, and like, I was wondering, if I could turn into different animals, it might not be restricted to gender, you know? Like, I could turn into a mare?”

Kratos slowly turned to look at Mimir, whose expression of complete bewilderment might have been similar to Kratos'. He turned ever so slightly back to his son, who dropped his head and cocked it, choosing his words carefully before continuing, “So I tried it, and it worked! I transformed into a mare and took a nice run through the woods. But uh, that's when I found him.”

“Found who?” Kratos asked immediately, his eyes narrowing.

“No one bad!” Atreus insisted, hoping to put his father's mind at ease, “The locals called him Svaðilfari..."

"Svaðilfari!?" Mimir shouted in surprise, causing both Kratos and Atreus to turn expectantly to the head, "that was the name of the powerful stallion who helped Hrimthur build the walls of Asgard! I would have assumed the poor thing would be gone by now, but even with the loss of his master, and all this time, he's still alive!?"

Atreus snorted loudly through his nostrils, as if shrugging, "I should have guessed. He seemed very lonely, galloping across Midgard without anyone to join him. He liked to run through the fields, kinda like me, you know? Maybe search for his master, even though he's gone. I wanted to follow him; he's an amazing horse, fast, powerful, strong...!” Mimir's jaw would have dropped if it could. He could have sworn he heard Atreus sigh wistfully.

“I have a feeling I know where this is going,” Mimir muttered as Kratos scratched at his beard, still not sure what to make of this story, “Although I'm not sure I like it.”

“Be quick, boy,” Kratos rumbled, placing his woodcutter's axe on the stump and crossing his arms, “Is there a point to all of this?”

Atreus hopped into the air with a whinny, “Well, I mean...! It's nothing bad, really! He was really strong and fast, and we ran for an entire week together! Through forests and fields and even through a bog! I felt totally free and powerful by his side, just like he was... and... well... one thing led to another... and...”

Kratos noted the way the boy's head dropped, and the Grecian god exhaled through his nose before dropping his arms. Whatever his son did, he obviously thought that Kratos would be unhappy, even angry, about it. He did his best not to look disgruntled; he could hardly believe what he was hearing, but... “There is something else, I see. You couldn't have been gone for a month by running for a week, not unless you were realm traveling.”

Atreus spoke very slowly and deliberately as the story finally came to a head, "Father..." he whimpered, "I-I think I'm pregnant.”

“And there's the reason!” Mimir crowed, and if Atreus could blush as a horse, it would have traveled down his neck, “Isn't that why your father told you to stick by him when trying out your powers?”

Atreus whipped his head up and whinnied furiously at the head, “I know that _now_ , okay!? It's not like I ran out specifically to make this happen!” He turned to his father, his eyes big and pleading. “I just... I figure I shouldn't hurt him. It's not his fault I was being...” Atreus either couldn't find the word, or he didn't want to admit it to himself.

Kratos wouldn't let him trail off like that. “Go on.”

...Atreus' voice was very small, “...You know...”

Kratos crossed his arms again, and he was reminded of when Faye reprimanded her son, “Say it.”

Atreus tore up the ground in anger, pawing and gnashing his teeth together. “Alright! I was rash! Impulsive! Everything you've told me _not_ to be, okay? You happy!?”

A little, but Kratos wouldn't let his son know that. Atreus needed to know when to admit his faults, or he'd start assuming he didn't have any. The young god looked dejected, as if he were worried his father would start going into a huge lecture...

...but instead the man just let out a deep sigh. He remembered what it was like to be young, and to do things he regretted. He was just relieved to know it was something stupid instead of something destructive. “I suppose you'll be donating some hair for a brush...” he grunted, walking forward to rub a hand over his son's dirty coat. Spartans rarely used horses for war, but there were some that were used as beasts of burden, and he knew the basics. “And we'll need a hoof pick as well.” He tapped his son's leg, and the young god lifted it instinctively so his father could inspect it. Ugh, he _did_ go running through a bog. This was going to take forever to clean out.

“...Thanks, father, and I'm sorry.” His son was a man, fully grown by any law of the world, but he was still Kratos' boy, and it was times like these that showed it best of all. “I'll try not to be so rash next time.”

“Don't try,” Kratos said, placing his son's hoof back down. “Just do. Now then.” He placed his hand on Atreus' muzzle and pushed, and the boy instinctively turned, towards a small ring of flowers and grasses, “go and refresh yourself. We'll see what we can do about this.”

Atreus already looked better; he obviously was worried about how his father would take the news, and he was happy to know he wasn't going to get much more of a lecture than that. “Thanks, father! I bet you he's going to be a strong horse! It'll work out, I promise!”

Kratos growled warningly, and Mimir laughed as the mare leaped off with a scared winny. However, as the boy's father watched Atreus trot over to feed, he noticed something different about him, and Kratos cocked his head. Why, Atreus was _glowing_ , similar to the women of Sparta and Midgard who were no longer maidens. Similar to Lysandra and Faye, when they were with child. Atreus looked happy as he pawed the ground and danced a bit. The Grecian god had been hoping he could stamp out his son's rash behavior, but for now... perhaps it was best not to lecture the boy too much more.

As Kratos moved back to continue chopping logs (although there was less of a reason to now: he rarely needed extra furs for warmth, and now his son would be wearing a coat for the next few months), Mimir continued to chuckle at the sheer insanity of it all. “I never thought I'd see the day when you'd grandsire a horse, brother!”

“Quiet, Head.” Kratos snapped angrily, shutting the philosopher up quickly. The old god really, _really_ didn't want to think about that right now.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So uhm, Loki has always been really interesting for me, because he's so weird and the stories about him in mythology are obviously Rule 34 PWP and crossdressing fanfic and it makes me laugh. You never needed the internet to write fanfic I guess, because the Norse had us all covered! My absolute favorite thing to do when the Thor movies came out and girls would sigh wistfully about how hot Loki was...
> 
> ...was to say that "I can't wait for the movie where Loki gets impregnated by a stallion and gives birth!"
> 
> ...I stopped being invited to Thor fangroups after that.
> 
> So yeah, I wanted something fluffy and family to counteract all the sadness. Maybe I'll do more I dunno! *shruggg*


End file.
